The North American and European launch of Lightning Returns: FINAL FANTASY XIII is now less than couple of weeks away. Perhaps you never played FINAL FANTASY XIII or XIII-2, or you just never finished them? Well just incase you were wondering what the story so far was, or even if you'd just like to see both games re-imagined as 16-bit classics, Square Enix have decided to indulge you. Nearly 8 minutes of sprite artwork and MIDI-fied music await you!

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SirPrizes

01-29-2014, 04:43 PM

This is so awesome! I wish they had used SNES music instead of 8-bit music, since it clashes with the 16-bit SFX in some places, but overall I'm very surprised modern Square even had it in them to put something like this together. The spritework is fantastic! Maybe someday we'll get a new FF game with this look as a spinoff or something.

Also, are these versions of the songs new tracks, or did they come from the chiptune albums they put out a while back? I could have sworn I'd heard that Blinded By Light before.

Very pleased with this video. This is how you cater to the fans, not by offering a million outfits for Lighting!

Pumpkin

01-29-2014, 04:51 PM

Wow this was great :D

Omni-Odin

01-29-2014, 05:09 PM

Very cool.

Freya

01-29-2014, 05:16 PM

Oh haha that's so awesome of them.

Lone Wolf Leonhart

01-29-2014, 07:03 PM

Hahaha I like the part with Caius in Valhalla. "20 years later" *broken heart* "500 years later" *broken heart*

Skyblade

01-29-2014, 07:07 PM

Well, there goes my idea of making a thread to explain the story to all those people complaining about not understanding it.

Dr Unne

01-29-2014, 10:09 PM

Why couldn't this game really exist? :( The feeling with those sprites running around is so whimsical and FUN.

Some of the music is from SQ Chips - The Final Fantasy Wiki has more Final Fantasy information than Cid could research (http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/SQ_Chips) Highly recommended, it's a great album, along with SQ Chips 2.

Spuuky

01-29-2014, 10:16 PM

This really would have been a great game.

Skyblade

01-29-2014, 10:32 PM

Maybe we could find a way to petition Square for a 16 Bit Final Fantasy XIII?

radicaledward124

01-29-2014, 11:06 PM

that was great!

Sefie1999AD

01-29-2014, 11:39 PM

Funny how the 16-bit version almost has a better storytelling than the original. :D

Spooniest

01-30-2014, 01:36 AM

It's the lack of voices.

Shoot, I'da played the bejeebers out of it if they'd just released it like that.

Jessweeee♪

01-30-2014, 01:53 AM

omg that was so cute

Del Murder

01-30-2014, 02:48 AM

One of the best things SE has made in a while. I probably would have enjoyed the XIII games more if they were in this format. But man, that story is convoluted as smurf. XIII was ok but when it got to XIII-2 it was almost a parody of itself.

Jiro

01-30-2014, 10:22 AM

That's pretty incredible, wow.

NeoCracker

01-30-2014, 11:07 AM

...Why was Lightning the Guardian of Souls in Valhalla? o_O

Omni-Odin

01-30-2014, 01:15 PM

Well, there goes my idea of making a thread to explain the story to all those people complaining about not understanding it.

You could still do this ya know for all the real backstory. The 16-bit video is fun, but really explains nothing.

Mirage

01-30-2014, 04:24 PM

Music is 8bit, sound effects and graphics are 16bit. Maybe it's just me but that makes it lose all credibility

Noctis Caelum

01-30-2014, 08:24 PM

Lmao. The fact that so many people are calling this the best thing Square Enix has done in a decade leads me to believe that people don't hate XIII series because it's trout. They hate it because they can't get over 16 bit. I PERSONALLY find that hilarious.

I love the homage, but no, it is not better than the XIII games. I'm sorry. Still a unique idea to try and get another nostalgia trip out of FF fans that are mad at their former masters.

Mirage

01-30-2014, 08:37 PM

Which masters? I have no brand loyality :p.

In fact, I am one of their masters. SE is a slave to our money.

Noctis Caelum

01-30-2014, 08:55 PM

Which masters? I have no brand loyality :p.

In fact, I am one of their masters. SE is a slave to our money.
But we're all too happy to give them our money for various releases. Perhaps we are slaves to their will. I know I am. SE tells me to jump, I bend over and take it from them before jumping.

Mirage

01-30-2014, 09:16 PM

I guess some of us have higher standards than others :p

Del Murder

01-30-2014, 10:57 PM

I think there is something to say about the ease of injecting whimsy into the 16 bit titles veruses modern games. When you see a sprite jumping around or an amusing text bubble it is fun and enjoyable. That's not as easy to do with 3D models and voice acting. Hard, but not impossible, because Kingdom Hearts was able to do it. That was one of the main gripes I had with the XIII games. They took themselves way too seriously. Even with all the time travel nonsense and Mog in XIII-2, Caius was such a brood and Yuel was a smurfing downer.

SirPrizes

01-31-2014, 12:01 AM

Music is 8bit, sound effects and graphics are 16bit. Maybe it's just me but that makes it lose all credibility
I don't think it makes them lose all credibility, but it definitely makes them lose at least a little bit. I think they might have just ripped the tracks from their chiptune albums. It's just a fun little video, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't want to spend the effort remaking the songs on the SNES soundchip.

Besides, I'm sure a lot of people probably didn't even notice.

Skyblade

01-31-2014, 04:17 AM

I think there is something to say about the ease of injecting whimsy into the 16 bit titles veruses modern games. When you see a sprite jumping around or an amusing text bubble it is fun and enjoyable. That's not as easy to do with 3D models and voice acting. Hard, but not impossible, because Kingdom Hearts was able to do it. That was one of the main gripes I had with the XIII games. They took themselves way too seriously. Even with all the time travel nonsense and Mog in XIII-2, Caius was such a brood and Yuel was a smurfing downer.

The style of visuals is more behind it than the visual fidelity itself.

You noted Kingdom Hearts. This is one example. Wind Waker is another. As is Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. Or Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon (in fact, Nintendo is great at this). The chibi-fied "LEGO" character models in Final Fantasy VII are yet another example.

None of these games had any problems with whimsy, because none of these games went for realistic graphics. You can have incredibly detailed graphics and still have a whimsical game. I don't think you can do the same with photorealistic graphics though. I mean, let's step away from games and look at TV shows. How many live action shows have managed to portray a fun and whimsical atmosphere well? Not many (and there have plenty that have tried it). I think it's an Uncanny Valley type disconnect. When the appearance gets to close to reality, you have to either ground the subject in reality, or have it come across as weird and creepy.

I would love to see Square take a more stylized approach to their aesthetics. We know they still can. They're making Kingdom Hearts, and they released Bravely Default. They just need to actually do so.

Del Murder

01-31-2014, 05:04 AM

Makes sense. Unfortunately, FFXV won't be that.

Edge7

01-31-2014, 05:36 AM

As far as FFXV, I'm hoping for at least Crisis Core levels of whimsy (nothing comically animated, but still lighthearted enough that not everything is done straight).

Anyway, this video was kinda cool, but seeing the plot of both games condensed has done nothing to improve my opinion on either of them. I laughed out loud when Lightning just fell into Valhalla.

Still, you could tell there was some great effort put into this, and I appreciate the though, Square.

Psychotic

01-31-2014, 08:39 AM

I thought this was fanmade (I just jumped right into the video!) until I read the thread. That's damn cool of Square to do that using FFVI assets. Really enjoyed it.

Kalevala

02-01-2014, 04:34 AM

One of the only things by the company I've enjoyed for some years now. Good on them.